I know that the road will lead back to you
by ElricKeyblade
Summary: A collection of drabbles to keep myself motivated in writing fics. Mostly AUs. This week: Wally and Bart meet up with a young woman who has an...unusual request.
1. Author's Note

Author's Note:

This collection of drabbles is mostly a way to keep myself motivated for a fic writing schedule that I am undertaking at the moment. I told myself that for every two weeks that I complete the designated word count I set for myself on an app called Pacemaker, then I would upload a drabble that either I previously wrote on tumblr or still lingers in my writing journal.

Most of these drabbles are AU's, and for several of them I have plans for future fics in the works someday. I hope that I succeed with the current fic writing schedule I have now (one of which includes my other fic, **Troublesome Dates**) and am able to bring all my planned fics to completion.

So, should I go past two weeks without a new drabble and you see no new fic or a fic being updated, feel free to hold me accountable! ^^


	2. Childish Dream

Setting: AU where Artemis is on the younger team and Kid Flash is their occasional den mother

Summary: _He would never look at her any differently. She knew that. But still she dreamed._

* * *

_Recognized: Artemis, B-21._

"What took you so long?" Cassie called out as Artemis strolled towards the living room. She and Karen were playing some kind of board game, and Gar was in the kitchen with M'gann and Lagann as they made some pasta dishes together.

"We thought you'd get here faster since, you know..." Karen shared a sly glance with Cassie as she trailed off, leaving Artemis a bit confused.

"What are you guys talking about?" she demanded. "You know I had volleyball practice after school today."

Gar, who had been eavesdropping (as usual), blurted, "Kid Flash is going to be our den mother for today!"

Oh. That.

She folded her arms and tried to forestall the inevitable. "Yeah? Is that supposed to be a special occasion or something?"

Karen rolled her eyes. "Girl, could you be anymore obvious?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she rebuffed, moving towards the kitchen to find something to do. Unfortunately, she could already see M'gann hiding a smile behind her hand, and Lagann looking away a second too late.

It unnerved her how everyone in her vicinity seemed to be in on their so-called 'inside joke.'

_Recognized: Kid Flash, B-03._

And how, no matter what she did, she couldn't stop her traitorous heart from skipping just a tad at the mention of a certain superhero's name.

"Hey there, kiddos! What's happening?" A telltale _whoosh_ zipped past her, and their temporary 'den mother' was already in the kitchen, leering over the prepared food. "Alright! I was wondering what I was going to have for a snack."

"Wally, stop that." M'gann used her telepathy to rap a spoon on his knuckles, then giggled at his playful hurt expression. "You'll get your share when everyone else has theirs."

"So in other words you want me away from the cute lovefest you and Fish Boy got going on here, got it," Wally translated, smirking. He laughed at the blushes appearing on the couple's faces and moved to avoid Lagann's half-hearted whack at his head. Within moments he was moving all over the room and greeting other members of the team.

"Hey there, Cassie! Hey Karen! How are my girls doing today?"

"Mal, wow, have you been working out since I last saw you or..."

"Garfield! What up, squirt? I'm betting some new souvenirs?"

Artemis was his last stop, his feet skidding only a few inches beyond where she was standing near the couch. _The best for last_, her mind betrayed before she dumped out such wishful thinking. He looked at her just like he did everyone else, with smiles and green eyes, and she had to fight to keep herself from melting at his being so close.

"Well if it isn't little miss Green Arrowette!" he cheered. She could almost hear the record scratch that halted her futile daydreams.

"It's Artemis," she snapped. "Why is that _so hard_ for the great Kid Flash to remember?" He always made sure to conveniently forget her actual hero name, even though he knew how much she hated that.

"Don't take it personal, kiddo." She squawked as he nuzzled and mussed up her hair with his hand. "You know I'm just messing with you. Had a _nasty_ run-in with your sister the other day by the way, did you know that?"

"Yes," Artemis almost hissed out, fists starting to clench. "Yes, I do. Thank you. Sorry for the trouble."

"Um, that's okay." Kid Flash raised a puzzled brow. "But you don't have to apologize every time Cheshire pulls some kind of criminal act out the hat. Sounds kind of ridiculous, don't you think?"

"Well sorry that I'm so ridiculous!" she shouted, turning sharply away. She could feel the eyes of her other teammates fixing themselves on her back as she stomped towards her room, and was almost certain her ears were burning red.

Once inside her haven she locked the door and leaned against it. Tears of frustration built up behind her shut eyes, and she felt even more pathetic. No, not pathetic- just plain stupid. Stupid for even hoping that the great Kid Flash would ever look at her as more than one of the younger teammates he occasionally had for babysitting duty.

Not that she ever expected him to. Not really. Ever since she had first seen him on the news when she was eight and he a prepubescent thirteen, she knew that it was an impossible dream. She was a daughter already being groomed for criminal activity;he was already a hero saving lives with his heroics.

More than that, there was the minor- okay, not so minor- issue of the age gap.

But seeing him on that rusty television set, watching him grow older and save cities and entire countries, even; following him through every newspaper clip she could salvage and hide from her villainous father to the point of risking severe retribution if found- it sparked something within her. Something small and fragile, yet resilient enough to last for the better part of seven years.

Even for her to at least dream, if nothing else.

"_Team," _Kaldur's voice buzzed over the intercom, startling her thoughts. _"Report to the lounge now for mission briefing."_

* * *

It had to do with Sportsmaster. Her sorry excuse for a dad. Something to do with a cargo that he was helping transport on behalf of the Shadows. This cargo was obviously of top priority, as Kid Flash was sent in with her and Cassie and Garfield to make sure that things didn't have a chance to go sour. She didn't remember the exact reason. There was too much red in her ears for her to listen properly, and too much awkwardness in the air around them.

So in the end, it really was her fault that the mission was quickly going to shit.

"Artemis, look out!"

Cassie nearly barreled her over as she flew towards a goon right behind Artemis, crowbar raised and lethal. Garfield thundered against an overgrown gorilla several feet away. Artemis tumbled towards the ground, under and over and upright and running towards where her father was beckoning her forward with the raise of his javelin.

Two kicks, to the stomach and to the head. A turn. Keep your eyes on the target.

He dodged and flipped her over. A kick to her ribs, a glancing kick to her face as she rolled. Blood spurting out of her mouth as she struggled to lift herself on her arms. A stomp on her back to hold her down, malice keeping her rooted there with its evil grip.

She could see the tip of the javelin from the corner of her bleeding eye.

"Aaaaaand that's enough!"

A warm yellow filled her vision, and the weight on her back disappeared. Strong arms engulfed her as they picked her up, comforting and safe.

"Team, retreat!" Kid Flash yelled. "Torch whatever is in reach and go!"

His arms tightened around her as he picked up speed towards their ship, waiting in the leafy bushes. She twitched just a bit in his hold, and bit her lip at the searing pain.

"I'm...sorry..." It was the only thing she could bring herself to say, even though there was much more she wanted to tell him. So much more.

He glanced down at her for a brief second or two, and the sinking feeling in her stomach dissolved at his wry smile and murky green gaze. "Don't be."

This was a dream that was foolish and fast and far too easy to slip through the tips of her fingers to be anything but.

But at least it was beautiful.

* * *

_Please review._


	3. Magical Courtship

Setting: AU based on _The Hollow Kingdom_ trilogy by Clare Dunkle

Summary: Wally never believed in magical folk...until one of them chased him and his cousin all over their new home.

* * *

Wally could feel Bart's hand trembling in his grip. The trees around them waved angrily as the wind goaded them into forced applause. Lightning flashed and danced, even as the half-moon smiled its eerie smile at the clearing they were standing in. His little cousin clutched his hand a tad tighter when thunder boomed through the woods.

That did it.

"You done now?" he called out to the darkness, feeling just a little bit silly and more than a bit mad. "We know you're out there, so you can stop with the theatrics. You're scaring my baby cousin."

"I'm _no__t_ a baby," Bart muttered. He shook the hand in his grip to shush him and kept looking every whichway into the gloom of the trees. Still nothing.

He swallowed. "What, you scared too? Did we finally outsmart you, you…demon?"

A low hissing eked out through the black that surrounded them. It sounded like snakes laughing, if there was such a thing.

"Now that's not very nice," a husky voice admonished. He and Bart turned around and saw a woman step out a bit from the trees, a sudden light enveloping her as though she were a lamp. "And here I thought we were becoming good friends."

She was clothed from head to toe in a dress that was flowy and green as leaves in the summertime. Long blonde hair flew around her face as she stood there with a shrewd look he didn't like.

Wally made sure to block Bart from view before shooting out questions faster than he could contain them. "Who are you? What do you want? And why have you been following us around for the past few days?"

The girl huffed and cocked a hand on her hip. "Weren't you listening the other night? My name is _Artemis_."

He glared. The wind may have died down since this…she-demon finally revealed herself, but it was still freezing cold and he was pretty much pissed that he and Bart were driven to running all over the mansion grounds when they could have been nice and warm at home. "That's nice. But I don't care. What I care about is what you want from us."

"That should be easy," the girl answered, a sly grin curling on her mouth. "I want _you_."

There was heat rushing all over his face and _that was so not funny_.

"Whoa, man," Bart whispered a tad too loudly. "Isn't that what those girls tell you every time you go to one of those 'playing house' things?"

Wally gritted his teeth at the girl's affronted look. "Shut up, Bart."

"But I'm just saying, maybe she just wants to play or something—"

"The hell I want to 'play,' kiddo," Artemis interrupted, voice cold. "I don't know what kind of trash your womanizing cousin keeps feeding you—"

"Hey hey, back off the kid." He stepped forward, hands held out. "And besides, it's not what you think. I go to those playhouses because I need..." Wait, why was he trying to explain himself to the she-demon?!

Wally took a deep breath and hoped that it would do something to stop his mind from going off the deep end. "Look, I'm flattered. Really. But...I don't think this will work out. So…"

He shook his hands out in a shooing motion towards her. "Begone, succubus! Shoo!"

The woman stared at him with wide eyes for a brief second. Then she doubled over and laughed.

"Hahaha—do you know how ridiculous you look right now?" More hoots of laughter. If his ears were burning before, that was nothing compared to now. This was only the third time she managed to make him look like a fool.

Still laughing, Artemis dropped to her knees, no further than the upraised roots of a tree that ran across the edge of the clearing. That seemed to sober her laughter, because it soon quieted and dispersed with the swipe of an arm across her wide smile.

"You really are a charmer, aren't you?" Her eyes slanted. "But I already knew that. That's why I chose you."

Okay, he'd had enough. "Chose me for what? And why wasn't I there to help you with the choosing?"

"Because it's not your choice in the first place," she bluntly replied. "Sorry about that, but it's true. If all of us gave our consorts a chance to choose to be with us, there'd be none of us left."

It took far too long for him to realize that he wasn't breathing.

"Did you just say consort?"

He hoped she was joking, but her stone-still expression spoke otherwise. "Yes. You're going to be my consort."

"No I'm not."

"Says who?" She shifted, and he tensed, but she didn't come any closer. "I saw you first and I chose you, so now all I have to do is kidnap you and—"

"Wait, did you just say you're gonna _kidnap_ Wally?" Bart yelped. Wally spared a brief glance backwards. In all this confusion he had almost forgotten the little guy was even there.

To her credit, the she-demon winced at those words. "Well, maybe not kidnap…but how else are you going to come under the hill with me? You certainly don't look like you're gonna walk in there of your own volition."

"What are you?" Wally asked yet again. "And tell it to us straight this time. If we're going to get…married…" He gulped. As _if._ "I'd like at least that."

She raised a brow. "I'm a goblin."

Thunder boomed at her words.

"A goblin?" Bart squeaked.

"Pfft, no. You're obviously lying," Wally scoffed. "Goblins are ugly and horrible. They usually don't look so…so…" Not for the first time that night did he wish that he would just _shut_ _up_.

Especially since that woman was now grinning from ear to ear.

"Wow, cousin," Bart muttered. "Real smooth."

* * *

A/N: Another two weeks of meeting the daily word count, another drabble posted. Believe me when I say that posting this really was my main motivation to not give up and just let one day or another pass by without writing what I needed to write.

So with that in mind, please review! ^^_  
_


	4. Anything Broken?

A/N: I originally wasn't going to post this because technically I still have two stories on my writing schedule that I'm still catching up to in terms of word count, but the very nice reviews from **MusicLoverBLD** and **UD** motivated me and continue to motivate me. (Thank you so much, you guys!) So, here we go!

Setting: AU

Summary: Wally meets his best friend's ex-girlfriend. He didn't know she was this attractive in person.

* * *

So she was the ex-girlfriend.

"Dude, I'm pretty sure it's considered creepy to stare holes into someone when they aren't looking," Dick sniped, digging an elbow into his side. Wally recoiled and scowled at his best friend, who was looking impressively calm for showing up at the work place of someone he'd broken up with three months ago.

"You're sure this is okay," he stated. "No lingering feelings, nothing too awkward…wait, what are we doing here again?"

Dick sighed. "Apparently there's some big event happening here today, and she asked if I wanted to hang out. You know, as friends. Nothing more."

Wally peered closely at the younger boy, trying to see what secret thoughts may or may not be encoded on his dark sunglasses. "You still like her, don't you."

The teen shook his head solemnly, managing to look far older than his nineteen years for a brief moment. "It's better off this way. We actually are less awkward with each other now as friends. Plus, with her attending college on the other side of the country and me being a bit too focused on inheriting my dad's company…yikes. There's less…strain now."

He trailed off, and Wally glanced over at the girl standing at the counter and taking orders from the line currently swelling from the noon rush hour. He remembered first seeing her picture last year, when he was studying abroad for a semester in Germany and Dick was skyping him at least once a week. It was a blustery day, and he was bored, so when Dick off-handedly mentioned having a new girlfriend of course he had clamored for a picture of some sort.

Minutes later he was staring at a photo of Dick and a pretty tanned blonde who was obviously older than him—probably closer to his own age— and who was staring at the camera with a look of surprise. For Dick's sake he had hoped it was surprise at the camera rather than the relationship.

"Her name's Artemis," his best friend had said, blurry smirk on his features. "Sweet name, huh?"

Sweet indeed. And pretty hot. _'How long will _she _last?'_ he recalled thinking before literally slapping his forehead for that one. Not cool.

Apparently the voice in his head was precognitive. That, or he was just that jaded from the amount of relationships Dick had managed to swim in and out of since he was fourteen. Wally himself was lucky enough to score even a date— which only proved that redheads were not much in demand at the dating market.

From what Dick had told him, this girl was amazing. She was on some sort of archery team and even once had a shot at the Olympics, and had quite the ambitious streak. She sounded like she could give any guy a run for his money, actually…which may be why a relationship with Dick didn't work out. Maybe.

"Don't worry about it, man," he said, clapping his friend on the back. Dick gave him a look that said, _'What'_ but he ignored it. "You've got the Wallman here to help protect you from this woman's dastardly attempts at murder."

"About that." Dick crossed his arms. "I….kinda forgot to tell her that you were coming."

Oh boy.

"Well, guess I better go introduce myself to her then," Wally said, trying to hide his uneasiness. She wasn't one of those unreasonable types, was she? Without waiting for another remark, he moved over to the line that had thankfully gotten much shorter since fifteen minutes ago. It didn't take too long for him to reach the counter.

"Welcome to Happy Harbor Burgers, what would you have today," the girl droned, sounding anything but cheery. She was looking down at the cash machine and counting out the bills from the last customer, not even bothering to glance over at him. Geez, who taught this girl customer service? Cruella?

"Eyes up here, babe," he said, and there was a little pause before she looked up and…he shouldn't have said that.

Um, wow.

Her eyebrow quirked at his silence. "Your order? Or are you going to keep staring at me like Christmas came early?"

That snapped him back to reality real quick. _Dammit_, hormones. "Not much of a charmer, are you?"

"And apparently neither are you, so we're even." She gave him a glance-over, a slight scowl forming between her eyebrows. "I bet your girlfriend has a heck of a time with you."

Wally leaned closer, elbow resting on the counter. "Stole the words right out of my hypothetical girlfriend's mouth, Artemis Crock."

He didn't know what he was expecting. Disbelief, maybe. Or at least some sort of surprise. What he wasn't expecting was for her to smirk and say, "Wow. Direct. I was hoping that you'd try to be discreet for at least a little bit longer."

What.

"You're Wally, right? Wally West. Dick's best friend."

Say what?

She rolled her eyes. "You didn't think I'd date the guy for five months without at least knowing who his best friend was? Though I'll admit the pictures didn't do much justice…"

Wally cursed the heat he felt rising up his neck. This was _so_ not going according to plan.

* * *

A/N: I feel I should write the obligatory 'I'm not really much of a Traught fan' note here. But this drabble really did sneak up on me one night (morning) when I was tired beyond belief and my mind was empty of everything but the need to write. Go figure.

Many thanks once again to **MusicLoverBLD**, **UD**, and **PenNameEnterHere** for their reviews. You guys are wonderful. :)

Also, please review!


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